BLEW: On Blogging, Learning, Education & Writing (and a bit about NRIs & ex-NRIs too)

It is always a humbling and learning experience when we are asked to talk about ourselves and our work. Last couple of weeks saw me answering some interesting questions about myself, my book, some pesky issues related to Indian Education, my writing and some personal lessons I am learning along the way.

In this post I share my answers to some of the questions -- four, to be precise -- that I found most thought-provoking in two 'author interviews' that came my way. Though many of the questions made me think about what I wanted to say, the questions I have chosen to highlight here are somewhat special. That is because they touched upon all the four activities I am engaged in -- blogging, learning, education and learning. These questions compelled me to do some serious pondering to be more certain that I present my most honest and sincere thoughts on the issues being raised.

I heartily thank Namrata of Writer's Ezine and Ruchika Batra of Namaste Happiness for giving me such wonderful questions to reflect upon.

Now without further ado....

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INTERVIEW I - for Writer's Ezine

From being an academician to becoming a blogger and now a published author. How does it feel? What is the role you are closest to?

Aah, that’s an interesting question! Short answer – it feels very good!

I would say it has been quite a fascinating and rewarding journey so far. As an academician also I was always interested in writing for a broader audience. In fact during my tenure as a professor I was quite involved, for a number of years, with a couple of online discussion groups, focusing on issues related to India, Indian society and culture. And I would often write articles based on such discussions for online magazines, with an objective to bring out some important topics in the larger societal discourse. Some of those articles actually generated intense discussions, and I grew both as a thinker and writer as a result of this exercise. 

My blog, as you know, is inspired by my ongoing study of the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother (his spiritual collaborator). This means that it is inspired by and focused around a particular vision of life, living, reality, existence, art, beauty, love, individual, society, world, nation, politics, spirituality and everything. I should add that it is perhaps the widest and deepest and highest vision, the most complete and integral view that I have come across in my seeking. I try to stay as faithful as I can to my guiding inspiration. This also means that I avoid writing on topics and issues that may be trending or being promoted by blogging websites or forums if in my view they don’t fit with my guiding inspiration. I also avoid writing for blogging contests, product promotions and other such things, because of this very reason.

So do I enjoy blogging with this ‘focused’ inspiration? Of course, I do. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing it for almost two years now (my blog will be 2 this April). It gives me an opportunity to deepen my learning, it helps me see the inter-connectedness of a deeply spiritual view of reality and existence with the very living, throbbing and real situations in life – my life, life of the society, life of the nation or the world. 

As for the role of an author, well, I would say I don’t really see this as a new role for me. I have been published a few times before, in academic books and journals. At that time it was part of my role as an academic. Sure, ABC’s of Indian National Education is my first ‘full’ book as such and therefore, very special.

For me, this role of an author has now shifted quite a bit. I am not writing because it is a part of my professional role, I am writing now because I see it now as a means to my inner growth, it helps me practice a few life lessons such as how to develop patience, how to work without an expectation of reward, how to develop a combination of contemplative and critical mental faculties through writing, how to deepen concentration and avoid scattering of thoughts and many more. It is this aspect of writing (whether it is for my blog or for any other websites where I have been published or for this book or any others I may write in future) that I find most satisfying and personally meaningful.

Education which is supposed to be the very base on the future of our country lies, at times becomes the shakiest one with donation seats, paper leaks and other such scams surrounding it from time and again. Of late the new generation is considering foreign shores purely for the ease in lifestyle it offers. Do you see the future of it changing anytime soon?

You are very right about paper leaks, donations for admissions and other such things that we hear about from time to time. These things are totally unacceptable. But you see, I happen to think that the fundamental cause for why such things happen rests in the completely misguided view of education we have come to accept as a society and nation. Education has ended up only as a means for social success, a doorway to socio-economic upward mobility and a key to enter the hallowed chambers of ‘economic elite’ in the society. 

While no one can deny that a good education should help prepare learners for a meaningful vocation in life, but to see education as only that and nothing more than that poses a huge problem. Why are parents willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money for a seat for their child in a reputed school or college? Simply because they know that a certificate or stamp from that institution or a degree in a certain professional field will ensure a good economic future for their child? Why would someone hatch up an elaborate plan to leak an examination paper? Because they know that what matters in the ‘market’ out there is only the test results, not the actual learning. The mindset that leads to such problems is the fundamental cause. And that mindset is the product of the present model of education that is based on a completely materialist and industrialist view of individual and society.

Do I see it changing anytime soon? That’s a tough one. But I sincerely hope that some serious discussion happens on how we need to rethink the fundamentals of our education. In my book also I have emphasized this need for serious rethinking. I also believe that there are some good schools in India where a more holistic view of individual and society is the basis for educational and pedagogical practices. But those are still very few and far in between. We need that spark to become a fire on a much wider and vast scale. 

As for the current generation preferring to go abroad, well, I would say that this is not really a new phenomenon. Indians have been migrating to many different parts of the world for hundreds of years, for various reasons. But certainly, over the past several decades and particularly in the case of migration to the so-called developed countries in the West, we may say that one of their main motivators is perhaps an easier and more comfortable lifestyle. But in many cases we also see young Indians going abroad for higher education. In fact, higher education becomes an entry point gradually leading to settling there as a professional and attaining that comfortable lifestyle they are after. 

I myself have my PhD from the US, and I lived and worked there for about 15 years. And because my entire experience in the US was in the higher education system, I have also understood that there is a great value in gaining that kind of exposure, especially for someone who is interested in pursuing an academic life of teaching and research. There are many positives of American higher education – its overall emphasis on academic rigour, independent inquiry and interdisciplinary and flexible learning being some of them – which can be very helpful for broadening one’s outlook and deepening one’s knowledge in one’s chosen discipline or field of study. So I would say that such opportunities should be encouraged. 

At the same time, for the last couple of decades we have also been seeing a reverse movement – that is people who were settled abroad, particularly in the US and other Western countries, have been moving back to India. I know several such families and individuals. My husband and I are also one of those ex-NRIs. Of course, different people have different reasons for coming back to India, but for many the reasons have also to do with increased economic opportunities in India (while simultaneously the reduced opportunities in their adopted countries because of global economic recession). So in a way that is a good thing, I would say. 

But the larger question, and particularly that concerns the topic of Indian education is this – how can we create world-class higher educational institutions right here in India, which are also based on a view of education that is fundamentally Indian in its spirit? At present, even our best institutions like our IITs and IIMs may also fall short in this, because for the most part they too are based on the same old idea of education being a means to social and economic success alone and the role of education being only limited to prepare an individual to become a ‘productive’ member of the society. This mindset has to change before we can hope for any meaningful outer change in the educational scenario.

To read the full interview, please visit Writer's Ezine by clicking here.

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INTERVIEW II - for Namaste Happiness

What are your thoughts on making spirituality a mandatory subject to be taught in schools?

I am not in favor of introducing Spirituality as a separate subject – mandatory or optional – in school or college level of education. That will never work, and not just because there can be no unanimous understanding of what spirituality really means. There is always a very real danger of reducing spiritual education to book-based religious or moral education, which will be a regressive movement. Spirituality is not something that can be taught as such, it is fundamentally an approach to life, a vision for what it means to be an individual and the aim of individual life, as lived in the society and as lived within.

Let me clarify a bit more. I would rather see our education being wholly guided by a spiritual view of the aim of human life and the role of education in helping the individual prepare himself/herself for that aim of life. In my book, particularly in chapters VII, XI, XXII and XXIII, I have dealt with this issue in rather detail. Let me share just a few key ideas from there.

First of all, our education must be grounded in the true Indian understanding of life-affirming spirituality. Spirituality that motivates growing minds and hearts to experience all the joys of life and living and to expand and deepen their seeking for truth through all that life has to offer; spirituality that takes up all the intellectual, creative, emotional energies and colors them in its own truth.

A truly India-centric education will be based on the spiritual view that proper and gradual development of all parts of an individual is essential not as an end in itself but as a means to grow in one’s soul, because the soul manifests and expresses itself through its outer instruments of mind, heart, and body. Everything else begins to take on a different and deeper meaning when this fundamental view becomes the basis for all our work in the field of education.

Would you like to share some of your epiphanies under the guiding light of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother? (any three)

This is a very difficult question! But I thank you for making it easier by asking me to list any three. So I will do that.

I don’t and will never claim to know much of the infinitely wide, deep and high philosophy and wisdom of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. I have merely tasted a few drops of the vast ocean of their highly profound Vision so far, but that has been enough to convince me that each drop carries an endless ocean within itself. So based on my admittedly limited understanding, I would say that the three most practical life-lessons I am trying to learn and re-learn and practice, to whatever little extent that is possible given my myriad imperfections of mind, heart, will and effort, are:

1. The life that we live inside of us is just as real or perhaps more real than the life we live outside.
2. Don’t look for the work that you know will make you happy, but try to find happiness, meaning and contentment in all the work that comes to you.
3. Don’t look for the reason behind everything that happens to you in life, you can never really know it all with your mind.

To read the full interview, visit Namaste Happiness by clicking here.

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To read more about my book, click here.
To read some reviews of the book, click here, here and here.

Eyes that Dance: Performance of Anguliyankam

June 12, 2014. SPIC MACAY CONVENTION, IIT-Madras, around 9:00 pm

The wonderful performance by Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt had just finished. The soul-stirring music of Mohan Veena was still ringing in the ears and creating a peaceful vibration within. A group of people were busy rearranging the stage for the Koodiayattam performance by Shri Margi Madhu and his accompanists. Margi Madhu is a performer, choreographer and teacher, and has also been involved in research projects on various aspects of this art form. A recipient of many awards, he is one of the few performers left of this most elaborate and beautiful dance form. Margi Madhu and his wife, Indu G, who holds a PhD in Koodiyattam, run the Nepathya center for excellence in central Kerala. 

This was my first real exposure to Koodiyattam, also called Kutiyattam, one of the oldest dance forms in the world, originating from Kerala. This 2000+ year old Sanskrit dance-drama was traditionally performed only in special venues called koothambalams in Hindu temples and only by Chakyars, a particular community in Kerala. This ancient and living art form is now recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Characterized by slow and steady movements, Koodiyattam is a very difficult art form to perfect, especially because the artist must express the varied emotions mostly through the use of only his upper body, and particularly through his eyes. Koodiyattam performances are lengthy and elaborate affairs, and traditionally range from 12 to 150 hours spread across several nights.

That night of June 12, Margi Madhu’s performance Anguliyankam (Presentation of the Ring), based on Hanuman’s search for Sita in Lanka was a sheer delight for the senses. It brought to life the Sundara Kanda of the epic Ramayana, especially the part when Hanuman finds Devi Sita in Ashok-vatika at Ravana’s place and gives her the ring of Lord Rama. The performance also thrilled the audience in its portrayal of Hanuman’s appearance in Ravana’s court after he is caught by the soldiers of the demon-king.

                     

Typically the ritualistic performance of a single act such as Anguliyankam from the Sanskrit play Ascharya Choodamani is enacted over a period of 12 days. In 1993, Margi brought it outside temple premises and presented the entire text over two-and-a-half years by way of weekly performances. In June 2012, Nepathya Koodiyattom Centre presented the first full-length continuous performance of Anguliyankam outside temple precincts over a period of 29 evenings. This programme was held in collaboration with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where many students and research scholars in Indology and Sanskrit have been engaged in a deep study of the intricacies of this rare art form under the leadership of the noted Indologist and Koodiyattam aficionado Dr. David Shulman. (Read a fascinating account of that performance by Prof. Shulman here.)  

On the evening of June 12, 2014 at the student center of IIT-M campus, setting the stage took about 30-45 minutes. After this, the audience were given a brief but highly informative session by Dr. Indu, explaining some of the richness and subtleties of Koodiyattam, including the sacred nature of the art form and the musical instruments used in the performance. An outline of the story of Anguliyankam was also provided, in which through hand gestures she demonstrated some of what the audience were going to witness in the actual performance.

Margi Madhu’s performance lasted for a little more than 2 hours. But that in no way diminished the intensity of experience. The expression on his face, especially the movement of his eyes, the beats of the sacred copper drums known as mizhavu, the wonderful harmony between the dancer’s movements and the drummers' beats, all of it was enough to take you to a world where everything else sort of disappears and you just want to focus on the subtleties of the drama being unfolded in front of you. 

Margi Madhu's eyes expressed deep emotion compelling the spectator to take up the challenge of exploring deep into the layers, not only of the particular sequence in the story but also of the reality itself. As you begin to appreciate the slow and patient perfection through which subtle movements and gestures depict the richness of an emotion or a feeling, you begin to feel a connection with the moment itself. It is as if you have become that emotion itself for that fraction of the moment. Imagine what it would feel like to experience a full length performance over several days and weeks!

When I recall my experience of sitting through this marvellous performance, two things strike me the most. 

In today’s time when everything is about a fast pace of life and people (children, youth and adults alike) are being forced to move faster and faster and do more and more, what Koodiyattam represents is an opportunity to appreciate the deep and hidden beauty in all that is ‘slow’, ‘repetitive’, ‘patient’ and hence 'perfect'. 

Secondly, in our present age when it has become so common to speak of and even complain of reduced attention span and extremely limited concentration abilities, watching a performance of this dance form from thousands of years ago in itself is a great lesson in developing and practicing deep concentration skills.

~ Photos by Suhas Mehra

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For my previous post on the Mohan Veena performance at SPIC-MACAY convention, click here.

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Linking this post with ABC Wednesday, A: A is for Anguliyankam

Change, Beauty and Truth

Change is the only constant, it is often said. But nothing in the world is as simple as a cliche.

We must dig a bit deeper if we want to get closer to the truth.

What kind of change are they talking about who speak of constant change? Is it only an outer change? Or only an inner change? Or both? Who or what makes the change possible? Does it happen on its own? Or does someone or something compel or force or push for a change? Is change a natural phenomenon? Or is there another master-plan working behind the surface phenomenon of Nature? 

What is the outcome of change? Is it always for the better? Can change also be for worse? What distinguishes a good change from the one that is not? Who decides what is a good change and what is not? Who decides what is good, period?

So many questions. And I am not done yet. There is also the question of why.

Why does change occur? What is the need for change? Why can't things stay the same? Is there a  plan being unfolded through all the changes we see happening around us? Can we ever know that plan? Or even get a glimpse of it?

I am not sure I or any of us can have the complete answers to any or some of these questions. I am not even sure if I have all the questions yet. 

But sometimes you don't need to have the answers. Or at least not right away. You just need to keep asking the questions. More questions. So that you don't believe anything just because it is told to you by an authority, by your textbook, by your teacher. 

Change maybe a constant. But perhaps so is Beauty. So is Joy, and so is Delight.  

This may not make any sense the moment we start looking around and see all the horrible stuff happening. In our lives, individually and collectively. In our homes, in our communities, in our worlds. Where is any Beauty in all the gross, all the terrible, heart-breaking, horrendous human behaviour that we witness all around us? Where is the joy, the delight in any of that? 

And that's when we begin to want a change. We begin to lose our innate joy, our innate delight in the world, in life, in existence. We begin to question Beauty. We begin to question whether any of this madness makes any sense. We begin to feel restless. We begin to wonder if we can do anything to change something. We begin to ask what changes we need in the system out there so that some of this madness can be stopped. We begin to get angry, more angry when we don't see any changes happening. We get more restless. And so it goes on....

But where does it all take us? Do things ever change? Does the system become better? Does the horrible stuff stop? Or does one kind of terrible replace the other? 

And a time comes when we start using another cliche - the more things change the more they stay the same.

If all change leads to only more of the sameness, why change in the first place? 

So we are back to not really knowing anything. Not really having any answers. 

And yet we must continue. Continue asking the questions, continue living the questions. With the hope that someday we will be able to "see" the truth, not in a book or in a system or in a religion, but within.

Change, but not for the sake of changing. Change, for evolving, progressing, transforming. Change, for constantly discovering beauty, joy, and truth.

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, 

but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

~ Maya Angelou

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This reflection was triggered after a conversation I had with my 20-year-old niece studying Sociology, trying to make sense of this thing called 'Society.'

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Linking this post with Write Tribe Wednesday Prompt: Write a post inspired by a Maya Angelou quote. The quote I have chosen is not exactly a quote on writing, as per the prompt guideline. But on some level, everything in life has a connection with writing, including a butterfly's beauty and change. 

Image source: Google

Light is All You Need

A new post in the series - Reminders to self

Note: This could be seen as a sequel to my earlier post on Why Should I Write, in which I share some writing advice from Sri Aurobindo, advice that speaks to me personally at this point in my writing and in my life. The words below may be seen as a response to another one of my questions - How Should I Write.

When all feels dark, kind of lost

Thoughts are all better-off tossed

Ideas don't work, no fix in sight

All you need is one little Light.

Light in the heart, Light in mind

Go seek, and ye' shall find

Light in action, and inaction,

Stillness of one moment's fraction.

In this Light when all feels changed

Remember to shine it on those estranged

Feelings, thoughts, words repressed

Lest they rally to make a protest.

A moment speaks, a truth revealed

Only that rigid mind won’t yield

Slave of habits, oppressor of a kind

Don’t force it, slowly make it refined.

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Linking this post with Write Tribe - 100 words on Saturday 2014 #16: The prompt was to imagine a conversation with a favourite author on writing. 

I realized that any questions I could think of had already been answered as seen in the excerpt shared above from Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo, Volume 27, p. 599. The light of his guidance however inspired me to pen down the 100 word-poem to further dispel the darkness of my doubts.

Image source: 1: mine; 2: Google

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To see previous post in this series, click here.
To see all posts in the series, click here.

A Fragrant Lesson in Patience

I admit it. Patience is not something that comes easily to me. No, I should be more honest. I am quite impatient. But I value very much the quality of patience and would like to become more patient. Ever since moving into this house two and a half years ago, I have found a very nice and delicate way to develop and practice this virtue of patience. It is a personal practice or lesson for me, delivered in the the way I like it - small, beautiful, and self-taught. And as an added bonus, it makes my fingertips smell so fragrant afterwards.

All I do is go out in my garden and gather the little and tender flowers that are showered upon the ground by the good and gracious Parijat/Harsingar/Night Jasmine tree. Every morning this few-years-old sacred tree (so thankful to the previous owners of the house who planted it), the Divine Tree which is also known as Tree of Sorrow or Wish-granting Tree*, offers to the Earth below its most precious gift in the form of beautiful and delicate flowers. And I, a child of this Mother Earth, wanting to grow in my aspiration to become more patient, gather some of these flowers and bring them in my home.

Now starts my little lesson in patience - to slowly arrange these tiny and fragrant flowers so that each flower stands white-creamy side up and on its tiny orange foot. Of course, the first impulse is to gather these flowers in my palm and just immerse myself for a few seconds in their divine fragrance. Having done that, the blossoms which are somewhat soiled by the wet earth need to be tenderly cleaned making sure that neither their small white-creamy petals nor their tiny orange centers are broken. As they are drying out for a bit, I decide upon the appropriate vase or container or bowl in which I want to do the arrangement.

Then starts the most favourite task of picking up and arranging these tiny flowers, one by one, white side up, orange side down. My most preferred way is to float these flowers in water. Sometimes for the sake of contrast, I might also alternate and put in a few blossoms upside down, but that is very rare. There is something so beautiful about the way the tiny orange center shines through the middle of the white-creamy petals.

The flowers stay nice for two to three days, and interestingly even as they begin to wither away they just take on a darker creamy shade and don't really look so bad. At least to my eyes they don't! And when you are ready to give the old flowers and the used water back to the Mother Earth (by way of either putting them in a compost bin or doing what I prefer, which includes simply sprinkling the flowers and the water under some plant or bush in the ground or in a pot), you come across this beautiful yellow-orangish coloured water which has taken in itself the vibrant, fiery colour from the flowers.

The orange or saffron center of this sacred flower represents the fire in the heart, the source of all our energy, the fire that purifies, the fire of aspiration, will, and perseverance. It is believed that the dye produced from the central part of Parijat flowers was used to colour the robes of monks and ascetics in olden times. And in our times too, we find that the Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram gave to this sacred Parijat flower a most appropriate spiritual significance - Aspiration (Innumerable, obstinate, repeating itself tirelessly).



At times when I don't have much patience and don't feel like doing my lessons either (though on these occasions I pretend to myself that I don't have much time, but really, it is the patience that I lack or the aspiration or will to practice my lesson in patience!) but I still feel like arranging these flowers, the result might look something like this. Or some variant of it.

Spread out in an old brass thali with only a few drops of water sprinkled over them, 
just enough to keep them fresh for a day

And when I have just a little patience or want my practice session to be really really small, I gather only a small bunch of flowers so that I can do only a small arrangement. Something like this.

I can't tell you how happy I was to find this tiny shallow vase at the Matri store on my last visit to the Delhi Branch of Sri Aurobindo Ashram. It is just perfect for small parijat arrangements to be offered to a small round Krishna in copper.

I am quite certain such a lesson may not work for most people, and I myself haven't really made a conscious effort to examine whether a constant practice of such lesson has helped me in any small measure or will help me if I continue with this over the next many years.

But what I do know, or rather what I do feel, is that the very act of gathering these tiny flowers one by one from the ground and spending the next half hour or so cleaning and arranging them makes me forget whatever pressing demands there may be on my time. And in those few minutes there is no hurry, no rush-rush to finish up the task at hand and move on to other things. There is simply a quiet joy of doing something delicately beautiful. Being with the sacred flowers. Being with the task. Just being.



* There are many legends and cultural significances associated with this special tree and these special flowers. For a quick read, see here.

Photo credits: 1 - Suhas Mehra, all others - Yours truly.